Sequester

Lawmakers are considering a bill requiring drug testing of those receiving unemployment benefits. Both sides gave testimony this week about the bill’s effect on those receiving unemployment.

Reporter Roundtable

Paul Brown sat down with Aman Batheja of the Texas Tribune, Peggy Fikac from the Houston Chronicle and Terry Stutz from the Dallas Morning News to discuss Gov. Rick Perry’s appearance at CPAC, lawmakers turned lobbyists, and all the week’s events in Texas politics.

Texas White House

The importance of the LBJ Ranch to Central Texas dates back over 50 years. Superintendent Russ Whitlock discussed the park’s importance and how recent budget cuts affected the operating budget.

Governor Rick Perry returned to Washington, D.C. and the national political spotlight Thursday as one of the featured speakers at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC.

He talked about the recent release of detainees due to the sequester, calling the move a federally-sponsored jail break.

He also addressed his resistance to Medicaid expansion in Texas under the Affordable Care Act.

“I say Medicaid doesn’t need to be expanded, it needs to be saved and reformed,” Perry told the crowd. “We care about our poorest Texans. We want them to have the best care possible, and that can’t happen with a program that is on its way to bankruptcy.”

Governor Perry added that President Obama four years ago called Medicaid a broken system.

This was not the governor’s first speech at CPAC. Before his presidential bid, he gave a well-received address in 2011, and also spoke at CPAC last year after dropping out of the race.

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